Professor Yvonne Buckley:

I mentioned the national biodiversity action plan, which has always taken into account our international obligations and has been always consistent with our EU and global obligations. While there would be nothing wrong with including in the Bill the international obligations for biodiversity, such as the global biodiversity strategy and the EU biodiversity strategy, the national biodiversity action plan will be consistent with those obligations. I agree that would be useful and would shore up the point. Everything in the Bill needs to be consistent with, and support, the national biodiversity action plan.

The Senator asked a question about much of the detail being in the sectoral adaptation plans. There is a biodiversity sectoral adaptation plan, which strongly recommends implementation of the national biodiversity action plan and many other actions. It goes through the significant potential climate change impacts on biodiversity in that sectoral adaptation plan for Ireland.

The Senator gave a reminder of what is at stake and what will happen if we lose all our pollinators, for example. There are two factors. First, climate change will have significant impacts on biodiversity, which underpins food security, our mental and physical health and well-being, and so many other aspects of our lives. Much is at stake and we have to act on climate.

On the other hand, biodiversity itself is currently under threat from many other drivers, such as agricultural intensification, extraction and utilisation of our natural resources. The more at threat biodiversity is from these other factors, the less able it will be to withstand the additional threat of climate change. If the biodiversity system is brittle or fragile, putting it under further stress could have serious implications, which is why we have to act on climate change now. If we do not do anything about our biodiversity loss, our capacity to adapt to and mitigate climate change will be severely impacted. I cannot specify a number for what would happen in respect of our emissions if pollinators disappeared but they are fundamental to the appropriate and healthy functioning of forest and grassland ecosystems. Without pollinators, many plants will not produce seeds. They will not be able to reproduce or persist.

That affects pot plants as well as natural plants in the wild. These are fundamental to the functioning of our ecosystems.

On how important biodiversity and land use is in terms of climate change emissions, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, special reports on land degradation stated that it is responsible for 23% of global emissions. By remediating that degradation, we can put in place nature-based solutions to reduce a significant amount of emissions which come from land degradation.